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Code of Conduct?

I thought I'd create a Code of Conduct I thought I specifically needed for a comparative religion site.

Any comments or criticisms are very welcome. Essentially, I'm seeknig to preserve the ethos of respectful inter-faith dialogue. I'm looking to find a balance between reducing confrontation against individual freedom of expression.

Anyway, here it is:

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IMPORTANT  please read

The comparative-religion.com forum welcomes all people of all faiths and perceptions. It is a forum that promotes respectful dialogue between a very diverse membership. Therefore for the smooth general running of the comparative-religion forum, a Code of Conduct is therefore enforced for the benefit of members, moderators, and administrators alike.

CODE OF CONDUCT

1  POSTING CONTENT

We ask that members respect the diverse nature of people and opinions represented in the forum. However, due to the fact that this is a place for all faiths, paths, and ultimately opinions, it is inevitable that disagreement may result. We therefore ask that you consider against posting in the heat of the moment. And if you cannot say something constructive to someone you disagree with then it's best not to say anything at all.

Please note that posts of the following nature are likely to be edited or deleted at the discretion of forum staff:

a) Posts which seek to offend directly or purposefully disrespect individual members of this community, especially through flaming, baiting, or personal abuse,

b) Posts which use excessive profanity,

c) Posts that contain illegal matieral

d) Posts that contain pornographic imagery or literature

e) Posts that seek to promote discrimination, hate, or violence either within or outside of the comparative-religion.com forum,

f) Posts which seek to attack the legal rights of any individual member, such as but not limited to defamation, harassment, and/or the issuing of threats,

g) Posts made by a member using multiple aliases

h) Posts which seek to disrupt the functioning of the community itself, such as attacks against the comparative-religon.com forum itself.

2  LANGUAGE

Please also note that swearing is not permitted - this is not an adult site. If you really feel the need to swear then censor the f****** words yourself. Use st*rs or bl_nks to censor the words. Lesser slang words are acceptable, but vocabulary general not deemed acceptable for family viewing should not be used. If you dont censor yourself, then the forum software and or the site staff may do this for you.

3  DISCIPLINARIES

a) Informal Disciplinaries

Everyone gets a little heated sometimes, and we all make mistakes. Allowance is made for such eventualities. Generally forum staff will seek to defuse disagreements through constructive comment and criticism of posts. Every effort will be made to deal with issues calmly and sensibly on the forums itself. However, repeated offensive or disruptive behaviours may result in a Formal Disciplinary Procedure.

b) Formal Disciplinary Procedure

Re-occurring offences will result in a warning by e-mail, stating clearly the nature of the offense and indicating the involved post or postings. If the referred to behaviour continues then that member may be suspended, or more likely, banned from the comparative-religion.com forum. Please note that individual user IPs are logged with each post. Therefore particularly disruptive members can be completely excluded from even accessing the site via blocking of their IP address.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

(i) Please note that you will not be censored even for disagreeing with any member of the management, so long as it is not done so in a manner that is seen as generally disruptive.

(ii)If you have any particular complaints about a member of the forums staff, whether moderator or administrator, then please e-mail brian(at)comparative-religion.com with your complaint.

(iii) Complaints received about any post not necessarily covered by the above comments will be duly adjudicated.

FINALLY

This Code of Conduct is for the good of both individual members and the good of the comparative-religion site in general. If the site staff ever fail to take action in either of the above categories then our hosting provider may wish to initiate its own censorship policy by suspending or even closing this site.

All things considered, you have not only the potential but the opportunity to be constructive here. You may even learn something. Please try to bear that in mind.

They look good... In a forum like that it's very important to maintain and stand by these rules. I have been a member of forums dedicated to only one religion, and I know how heated those debates can become...

I think it's very good. We have a similar set of rules on our forums at TheCatSite.com. While not a religious site, we are very educational and family-oriented so we ask members to restrain themselves. We actually set up a seperate sub-forum for "hot" topics but we require to stick to the rules there as well.

I know some people don't like to be censored at all. In fact some members left the forums on that account and established a rival forum (small but very nasty and very abusive to my forums and mods). Anyway, I think most members are happy with the rules and with over 4000 members I feel that we had to have a clear set of rules declared openly.

One point though - no matter how clear your rules may be, when you try to apply them you may encounter a lot of criticism from the member in question (and his/her friends). It helps to have a good set of mods that help you weigh things before reaching final decisions. It also helps to carry all those communications behind the scenes (in pm's and emails) and not on the public forums. I've learned this the hard way - never reprimand a member on a public forum...

Yes, the criticise in private - that's been pointed out, ans something I would nearly have missed. I'm hoping not to require to apply the COC anytime soon, but I intend to resolve everything as graciously as possible. I'm not a rules lawyer...not yet.